DiscussWorldIssues - Socio-Economic Religion and Political Uncensored Debate - View Single Post - Question regarding the precept against harming living things and euthanasia

**IronpumpedLady** · 10-24-2011, 10:56 PM

Hi Ferret,

It's a very complicated moral question, and I'm heading off to work...but just to give a short answer from a Mahayana perspective, I'd say intention is an important factor here. If they are in great pain or misery and your motivation is to relieve their suffering, it might be justifiable.

We always have to be careful about making exceptions to the precepts though, because there is a risk of modifying them for the sake of our own convenience, or of opening the door to abuses. The fact that an animal is old or infirm doesn't necessarily mean that it wants to be killed.

10-24-2011, 10:56 PM	#2
IronpumpedLady Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 544 Senior Member	Hi Ferret, It's a very complicated moral question, and I'm heading off to work...but just to give a short answer from a Mahayana perspective, I'd say intention is an important factor here. If they are in great pain or misery and your motivation is to relieve their suffering, it might be justifiable. We always have to be careful about making exceptions to the precepts though, because there is a risk of modifying them for the sake of our own convenience, or of opening the door to abuses. The fact that an animal is old or infirm doesn't necessarily mean that it wants to be killed.
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